ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, July 16, 1996 TAG: 9607160054
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAN CASEY AND CHRISTINA NUCKOLS STAFF WRITERS
A ROANOKE COUNCIL subcommittee voted to recommend rezoning an area near Carvins Cove for use by city police.
In the near future, police gunfire may ring out day and night in a secluded section of woods in northern Roanoke County near Carvins Cove.
A Roanoke City Council subcommittee voted Monday to recommend the city seek a zoning change and a special-use permit from the county for a city police firing range that would be used "intensely" at least 60 days a year.
Some council members, meanwhile, think the range's uses ought to be expanded for bomb disposal or other activities.
But one nearby property owner predicts the prospect of day and night target practice would drive residents "berserk." The county, which recently pulled out of the project, has plans of its own for a large police and fire training complex near Dixie Caverns.
The 3-1 vote by the Water Resources Committee sends the issue to the full City Council, probably at its next meeting Aug.5. If council approves, the issue will go to the Roanoke County Planning Commission and then the county Board of Supervisors.
Mayor David Bowers cast the lone vote against the firing range. "This is the Cadillac of plans," Bowers said after the meeting. "I'm in favor of a good firing range, but I think they've overdone it."
The $158,000 facility - actually a collection of two pistol ranges, one rifle range, a classroom and at least one tower with a public address system and floodlights - would be built on city-owned land near Carvins Cove at the end of Timberview Road.
It would replace a Norfolk Southern-owned firing range near Shaffers Crossing on which the railroad has offered the city a long-term lease. Because of potential environmental concerns at the railroad site and limits on its uses, the city would rather build its own facility.
City and county public safety officials have been talking about building a joint facility for more than two years.
County Administrator Elmer Hodge said the county dropped out of the project when its share of estimated costs zoomed. The county is now beginning to look more closely at putting up a firing range elsewhere.
Chip Snead, the city's director of public safety, told the Water Resources Committee that the ranges would be erected with 20-foot earthen berms on the target ends to ensure safety and 8-foot berms on either side.
The city the range to take up 6 acres including a right-of-way for access. City taxpayers already own the land, which is part of the Carvins Cove watershed. Some council members said Monday they ought to ask for rezoning of 10 acres in case other uses - such as bomb disposal - were added.
"This facility would be run in the strictest fashion, with existing range rules," Snead said. "We think it's essential. We think it enhances officer and citizen safety."
Some residents of a heavily wooded community nearby, however, seem afraid for their peace and quiet. They say the range would be more of a noise and traffic concern than a safety issue.
"We wouldn't want anything noisy," said Mark Reinhardt, a dentist who moved to Timberview Road in 1978. "I imagine the neighbors would be pretty much opposed to it."
The range would be roughly 11/2 miles from Loch Haven Lake, a 72-year-old private swimming resort owned by Sky Preece. Preece is concerned the range could harm the ambience for the 200 families who are members, as well as for Loch Haven's eight residents.
"It's just a really lovely, old-fashioned place," he said. "It'd be a shame if it was disturbed by the sound of guns firing. ... I would think they'd [the residents] go berserk."
Kathy Ashby, another Timberview resident, said she had no objections to the range because it would be secluded. She said the range could generate more traffic on Timberview, but added that more vehicles might induce the Virginia Department of Transportation to make improvements on the the narrow, unmarked road.
County officials may soon be proposing an alternative site.
Roanoke County Administrator Elmer Hodge said cost increases for the proposed joint firing range have caused him and the Board of Supervisors to consider returning to the Dixie Caverns landfill to establish a firing range.
The county used the landfill for years but had to move out about eight years ago when the Environmental Protection Agency ordered a cleanup of the polluted site. County police officers then used Salem's firing range at Mowles Spring Park for several years before switching to the Norfolk Southern site.
Hodge said the county's share for the Carvins Cove firing range has risen from $20,000 to $120,000 over the past year.
"We could have gone back to Dixie Caverns with very few dollars - $20,000 to $25,000 - without any trouble," he said.
Hodge said the Dixie Caverns site could be used by the city as well, but he said that's a new idea that hasn't been discussed with Roanoke officials. He said plans have been put on hold until the county's new fire and rescue chief, Richard Burch, begins his job Aug.1.
He said the firing range could become part of a police and fire training center that would include classroom space and a driving course for practice in emergency vehicles. He estimated the center could cover 20 to 25 acres, providing enough space for the city, county and Vinton as well as Salem, which was not included in the Carvins Cove range.
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